New Palermo C.E.O Pietro Lo Monaco has defended his decision to join the club in spite of his history with island rivals Catania.

Lo Monaco spent many years working as Catania's sporting director on the other side of Sicily before being unveiled this morning by Palermo President MaurizioZamparini, who intends to step back and leave the running of the club in Lo Monaco's hands.

“I think people can go from Catania to Palermo. It's something that can happen,” he told Sky Sport Italia. “I'm a professional and therefore it is normal for someone to manage other companies. But I feel at home here in Sicily.”

Lo Monaco took up a similar position at Genoa earlier this summer but left after a dispute with President Enrico Preziosi over who should handle transfer business.

“There is an old acquaintance between Zamparini and I. There is also mutual respect, and when he proposed the assignment, I accepted without much hesitation.

“For the past 10 years, Palermo have strung together a series of great successes, but they have always been a team firmly in the bottom half in the table. I think if we roll up our sleeves we can lift ourselves up the League.

“I am here to run a team, and I will try and do my best.”

Lo Monaco certainly isn't the only Catania figure to defect to Palermo in recent years, Coach Walter Zenga and players such as Fabio Caserta and Matias Silvestre also having made the move.

Asked for his opinion on the matter earlier today Catania President Antonino Pulvirenti responded bluntly.